Isaac Nichols
| Isaac Nichols | |
|---|---|
| Born |
29 July 1770 Calne, Wiltshire |
| Died | 8 November 1819 (aged 49) Sydney, New South Wales |
| Other names | Isaac Nicholls |
| Occupation | Postmaster |
| Children | 3 |
Isaac Nichols (29 July, 1770 – 18 November, 1819) was an English Australian farmer, shipowner and public servant who was a convict transported to New South Wales on the Third Fleet, on the Admiral Barrington. He was transported for seven years in 1790 for stealing. He is most remembered as the first postmaster with Australia Post in New South Wales.
Isaac was born in Caine, Wiltshire, to Jonathan Nichols and his wife Sarah, in New South Wales he won favour with Governor Hunter and his aide-de-camp George Johnston, and was appointed chief overseer of convict gangs labouring in the Sydney area. In 1797 after his sentence expired, Hunter granted him 50 acres (200,000 m2) in the Concord district, on which he established a farm, and was assigned two convicts to farm it in lieu of his salary as chief overseer. The next year he purchased a spirit licence and opened an inn in George St.
In 1799 he was convicted of receiving stolen goods and sentenced to 14 years on Norfolk Island, in a trial that Governor Hunter believed was based on perjury and prejudice. (Nichols had refused to assign more convicts than was correct to John Macarthur and other officers of the New South Wales Corps). Hunter suspended the sentence and referred the matter to England. Eventually, in 1802, Governor King was instructed to grant him a free pardon. In the meantime, Nichols had added greatly to his landholdings and built a house and substantial buildings in lower George St. He established a shipyard, and in 1805 built a ship 'the Governor Hunter' which he used for trade. He became a successful businessman.
Despite his earlier problems with the officers of the New South Wales Corps, he sided with them in the Rum Rebellion to depose Governor Bligh. (He had been an assigned convict to George Johnston, one of the leaders of the rebellion, and later married his stepdaughter.) In March 1809 he was appointed by the military junta led by Johnston superintendent of public works and assistant to the naval office, and then in April was appointed by the same junta the first postmaster in New South Wales. Nichols' main duty as postmaster was to take control of mail as it arrived on the wharves. The mayhem that could occur when supply ships arrived, which was said to include unscrupulous people taking other people's mail and selling it back to them, made a more secure and orderly system a necessity. Nichols used his house in lower George St, the Rocks, as the post office, going to newly arrived ships to pick up the mail and then posting a list of recipients outside his house.
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